According to ExtemeVoIP, presidential candidate Barack Obama has committed to supporting network neutrality. If elected to the White House next year, he says he will impose network neutrality mandates on broadband providers such as AT&T and Comcast.
Obama said, if elected, he would appoint only pro-network neutrality Federal Communications Commission members. “I want to maintain that basic principle in how the Internet functions and as president I’m going to make sure that is the principle that my FCC commissioners are applying as we move forward,” he said.
I think one of the issues is whether any politician’s definition of “network neutrality” is the same as ours. It’s easy to say, just like “No child left behind”, but what does it really mean?
Don’t forget that the supposedly “net friendly” Michael Powell always claimed competition was not a “problem”, that there was plenty of competition and consumer choice in broadband, and therefore there is no need for FCC mandated “line sharing”.
Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton are co-sponsors of legislation introduced in the Senate by Byron Dorgan, D-S.D., and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, a bill in the name of “network neutrality” but also would allow broadband providers to create tiered pricing as long as there is “equal access to each tier.”
